The 17-year-old from Prague does not . . . repeat not . . . wish to be told that she resembles Sharapova or that she is following in the Sharapova footsteps. So does the comparison grate a bit, then, Nicole? "It doesn't bother me, " she insists unconvincingly. "I always have the same answer to this question. I am just waiting for people to get tired of the same answer to the same question."

So here we go with that same answer then. "She [Sharapova] is definitely a great champion, but we are totally different people. I do my own thing, she does hers, that's about it." Not even win Wimbledon? A shake of the head. "I don't want to follow her, just do my own thing, concentrate on that. Maria is Maria and I am Nicole.

Sure we both went to Florida to train at Bollettieri's at a similar age and we are both tall, but that's about it."

There could not be clearer indication of a nascent rivalry here, though the two have yet to play each other on the women's tour. They are being wheeled into position for this conflict by rival sponsors . . . - Sharapova is Nike, Vaidisova Reebok . . . and by ever-hovering agents muttering into their mobiles, since there are many dollars to be reaped promoting tall, beautiful blondes who can play tennis.

Sharapova has already cracked the system by winning Wimbledon two years ago. No more Grand Slams since, but they will come. For Vaidisova, the path is clear, but as yet no pot of gold that winning one of the four majors would bring. There is time, of course, since Nicole only turned 17 in April, and she came close enough to a place in last month's French Open final, having eliminated home favourite and world number one Amelie Mauresmo and three-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in successive rounds before blowing a big thirdset lead over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-final.

"It was a great tournament for me, " she says in flawless English. "I was very close, which is a good sign I can go all the way. It offered me more good lessons about winning against the top players. Playing them is a different game, and it's also a different game to beat them. I have managed that a little bit." Vaidisova is currently little known in this country, but that will change as soon as she steps onto one of the main arenas of Wimbledon where the TV eye is watching. Having made her debut last summer, reaching the third round, she has yet to be paraded on anything better than Court Two. It should have been Court One and TV on Friday, but as a men's match dragged on she and the Croatian, Karolina Sprem, were switched to good old Court Two, starting their match at 7.40pm. Two sets and 90 minutes later, Vaidisova marched off into the gloaming eyeing her place in the fourth round. "Of course I would have loved to play on a main court, but if we had waited to get on we wouldn't have finished, " she said.

Vaidisova is like Sharapova, but not at all like Anna Kournikova, who was stellar at everything except winning tennis tournaments. "I won't play a huge number of tournaments, " Nicole claimed. "I don't want to overplay myself at 17, health is my biggest priority." Which is why she pulled out of the pre-Wimbledon event at Eastbourne.

"I was tired after the French, still had a lot of school work to do, so I just took a week off." Since, she insists, "I swear to God I haven't seen the draw, don't know who I play now." We can reveal that next up is the Chinese Na Li, with a quarter-final beckoning against the second seed, Kim Clijsters. That first tilt with Sharapova would have to wait for the final.